DENVER, Colo. — A federal judge announced Wednesday that Robert Dear, the alleged gunman in the 2015 Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood shooting that took the lives of three people, remains incompetent to proceed to trial and is likely unrestorable despite being medicated.
Dear, 67, was diagnosed with a delusional disorder shortly after his arrest in 2015, which left his federal and state cases in limbo for years.
At that time, a judge in the 4th Judicial District said Dear’s understanding of things was “not rational” or “grounded in reality,” according to prior Gazette coverage of the case.
“I’m guilty — there’s no trial!” Dear said during one of his initial state hearings.
U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn determined in September 2022 that Dear could be forcibly medicated in an attempt to have him stand trial.
In response, Dear’s attorneys at the federal level filed an appeal to the ruling, but in June 2023, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Blackburn’s decision.
Then, a motion filed by Dear’s attorneys in August 2024 to allow defense counsel to argue the case a second time in front of the 10th Circuit was denied.
In late February, Blackburn ruled the antipsychotic treatment plan for Dear may be enacted “involuntarily and forcibly, if necessary,” now that the appellate process had run its full course, court records show.
Blackburn said Wednesday that Dear returned to the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners (MCFP) located in Springfield, Mo., on April 10 to start medication in an attempt to restore the alleged shooter to competency.
However, on Aug. 8, an evaluator found Dear to still be incompetent, and that he is likely unrestorable “for the foreseeable future.” The finding was uncontested by both the prosecution and the defense, Blackburn said.
Despite the finding, the prosecution informed the courtroom that they were not seeking to dismiss the federal charges, but did not provide a reason why.
For now, Blackburn granted a joint motion requesting that Dear be civilly committed to a facility in Missouri, where he is currently being held, rather than in Colorado.
Blackburn asked the attorneys to monitor his status in Missouri, and ordered that any certification filed in the Western District of Missouri be provided to the clerk in Colorado.
Court records show Blackburn denied a motion to permit victims to speak in court Wednesday, but a handful still appeared, seated next to each other.
On the federal level, Dear faces 65 counts of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act and three counts of use of a firearm during a crime of violence resulting in death, according to the late-2019 indictment.
For his state case, he faces 179 charges, three of which are sentence enhancers.
Ke’Arre Stewart, Jennifer Markovsky and University of Colorado Colorado Springs police Officer Garrett Swasey died in the Nov. 27, 2015, shooting. Nine other people — five of them law enforcement officers — were wounded during a five-hour standoff.
Dear did not appear in person for court Wednesday, but rather virtually, while remaining in custody at MCFP Springfield, according to federal inmate records. On the screens in the courtroom, Dear was seen shackled at the wrists next to one of his attorneys.
Blackburn did not set a new date for Dear to appear in federal court. His next appearance in a 4th Judicial District courtroom is scheduled for Nov. 13 for a status conference.
The Gazette's Mackenzie Bodell contributed to this web story.
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